Bullet in the Head
Twenty years ago, John Woo was still a treasured Asian filmmaker, with instant classics like the first two “Better Tomorrow” films and “The Killer” behind him, and the 1992 film “Hard-Boiled” to go before he made his way to America. A decade in Hollywood was rough on him, with only one genuine masterpiece (1997’s “Face/Off”) and a number of flawed studio projects to his name. He returned to form in his first Chinese project since the migration with last year’s “Red Cliff” (the two-part Chinese version of which I’ll be reviewing soon), hopefully the sign of a new series of classics to come.
In 1990, he released “Bullet in the Head,” his most ambitious film to date, and still one of his best. If it doesn’t have the reputation of his other classics in the States, it’s only because it’s never gotten a proper video or DVD release over here. But it’s worth searching out an import (or Queuing it on Netflix) to check it out.
A lifetime fan of Hollywood, Woo was inspired by the Oscar-winning “Deer Hunter” for “Bullet in the Head.” In the turbulent ’60s, a group of three friends from Hong Kong go to Saigon to get rich during the escalating tensions of Vietnam. But they’ll find themselves tested in ways that make them question their friendship and look at the world in a more realistic way.
Eventually, they make it back to Hong Kong, but they aren’t the same people they were before. The most drastic change happens in Paul (Waise Lee), who came across a box of stolen gold in Saigon and got a glimpse of the power having a gun gives a man. Meanwhile, Frank (Jacky Cheung) is traumatized when the three are in a VC camp, and is forced to kill hostages they’ve taken. Ben (Tony Leung) remains the most rational, sacrificing much for his friends, and a singer he finds trapped in Saigon by a crime lord. Along the way they meet Luke (Simon Yam), who has his own agenda, but is loyal to these three nonetheless.
Woo is at the peak of his powers in this film, effortlessly tying in his main themes (friendship, brotherhood, the effects of violence on an individual) into an epic work that creates a larger picture of the world than we get in any of his other Hong Kong films. The storytelling isn’t as assured as “The Killer” and “Hard-Boiled,” but it feels more personal, like the work of a filmmaker with something to say. That’s not to diminish the accomplishments of those other films but to point out a key difference between them.
The boldest passages are in the beginning- when the friends get retribution on a HK criminal for harming Frank, which is not the best thing to do on Ben’s wedding day, as well as getting a glimpse at the political uprising happening in Hong Kong (which Woo bravely gives allusions to the recent protests in Tiananmen Square)- and in the Vietcong camp, which is where the film really finds its’ parallels with “Deer Hunter.”
The most heartbreaking are when they return to Hong Kong. Seeing the effects of war on these three (as well as Luke, the most world-weary of them but a much more interesting character than we expect at first) is unforgettable and moving, which the best of Woo is. It’s a shame we only saw that side of him in one of his Hollywood films (“Face/Off”), but with luck, as “Red Cliff” showed, maybe there’s a chance we’ll get to see it again.
